T-Mobile used your Speedtest app data to back its claim of 'fastest' network

T-Mobile and AT&T agree — faster is better

One of T-Mobile's big talking points during their CES presentation was about the speed of their data network. They made it a point to show how their network was substantially faster than AT&Ts or Verizon's, and went as far as joking about Sprint's network performance with one-liners any Internet commenter would be proud of. They pulled no punches.

They briefly mentioned it during the presentation, but a recent press release answers the questions of just how they got the data to make this claim — from Ookla, the folks behind the popular cross-platform Speedtest.net app. They gathered test results from over 1 million users — we presume it was done anonymously — and the analysis shows that their LTE network is the fastest in the country.

They also make it a point to mention how others do their network speed analysis, using "highly paid industry consultants" and data from drive tests. To T-Mobile, real-life data from folks like you and me paints a more accurate picture of the situation. While test results and slides on stage in Las Vegas won't tell the story in your neighborhood, we like the idea of using real customer data like this.

You can read what T-Mobile has to say about this and some more tidbits about their network plans in the press release after the break.

Customer Data Proves T-Mobile Network Now Fastest 4G LTE in the U.S.

LAS VEGAS - Jan. 8, 2014 - Carriers love to make claims about whose network is fastest or most reliable. The claims often sound the same because they're typically produced in much the same way - using highly paid industry consultants and drive test data.

T-Mobile US, Inc. (NYSE: TMUS) decided to take a more transparent path than the competition and use mobile data speed tests collected from real consumers[i] using the popular Ookla Speedtest app. T-Mobile's analysis of the results are clear, and the Un-carrier announced today that its nationwide 4G LTE network is the fastest in the country, according to millions of real-time speed tests involving more than 1 million consumers.
The company also revealed the continued rapid expansion of its nationwide LTE network to reach 209 million people, with 43 of the top 50 markets now served by 10+10 MHz LTE.

"Finally we agree with AT&T on something: Faster is better," said John Legere, president and chief executive officer of T-Mobile. "I warned the competition this day would come, and millions of speed tests from real people using their own phones prove it: T-Mobile's nationwide 4G LTE network is the fastest network in the nation - bar none."

According to actual test results performed by consumers on Speedtest, T-Mobile's nationwide 4G LTE network delivers not only the highest average network speeds of all U.S. wireless providers, with 17.8 Mbps, but also delivers more consistently fast 4G LTE speeds than any other carrier.

More customers than ever before can take advantage of these speeds because T-Mobile's continually expanding nationwide 4G LTE network now extends to 273 metro areas, including 95 of the top 100. T-Mobile's fastest nationwide 4G LTE network already outperforms the competition, and in areas with 10+10 MHz, T-Mobile has measured download speeds of up to 72 Mbps and upload speeds of up to 27 Mbps, including New York, Chicago, Miami and San Francisco. At those speeds, customers could download a 90-minute high-definition (HD) movie in five and a half minutes or a whole music album in 13 seconds.

"T-Mobile is laser-focused on giving customers the best network experience possible," said Neville Ray, chief technology officer for T-Mobile. "First we deployed nationwide LTE at breakneck speed, covering more than 200 million people in just six months. Now, we're adding more and more spectrum to this footprint and have commenced the launch of our Wideband LTE service, doubling already best-in-class speeds."

With the launch of T-Mobile Wideband LTE in North Dallas last November, T-Mobile beat another company milestone, delivering 20+20 MHz LTE ahead of 2014, which is capable of peak download speeds of 150 Mbps. T-Mobile has measured download speeds of 147 Mbps and uplink speeds of up to 40 Mbps in North Dallas, meaning customers could download a 90-minute HD movie in under three minutes or a whole music album in 7 seconds.

As the company continues to expand T-Mobile Wideband LTE, every T-Mobile customer with an LTE device will be able to experience a speed boost. In addition, customers with the latest LTE-capable devices, such as the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, Nexus 5 and LG G2 can take advantage of the maximum speeds available from T-Mobile Wideband LTE powered by 20+20 MHz LTE.

T-Mobile also announced several additions to its portfolio of devices that can take advantage of T-Mobile Wideband LTE at low upfront costs, including:

LG G Flex - T-Mobile will launch the world's first curved, flexible smartphone[ii] from LG Electronics - the LG G Flex - which offers a more reassuring grip and fit as well as an outstanding voice and sound experience because the distinctively curved design follows the contour of the face. Pricing and availability will be shared soon.

Samsung Galaxy Tab® 3 (7.0) - The Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 is the latest Android(TM) tablet in T-Mobile's 4G LTE device portfolio. T-Mobile customers receive 200 MB of free data each month with the Galaxy Tab 3 for as long as they own the tablet. The Galaxy Tab 3, which will cost $0 down with 24 equal monthly device payments of $13[iii], will be available online via www.T-Mobile.com beginning Jan. 9 and at participating stores on Jan. 15.

Sony Xperia® Z1S - T-Mobile is again exclusively partnering with Sony to bring its latest flagship smartphone - the Xperia Z1S - to customers. The slim and durable smartphone features an outstanding 20.7 megapixel camera in a waterproof[iv] design with a 5-inch full-HD TRILUMINOS display. The Xperia Z1S will be available for $0 down with 24 equal monthly device payments of $22iii with a Simple Choice Plan. Pre-register to order the device today, with an online pre-sale kicking off Jan. 13 at www.T-Mobile.com and nationwide availability in participating T-Mobile stores and online starting Jan. 22.

For more information, visit the T-Mobile newsroom.

About T-Mobile US, Inc.:

As America's Un-carrier, T-Mobile US, Inc. (NYSE: "TMUS") is redefining the way consumers and businesses buy wireless services through leading product and service innovation. The company's advanced nationwide 4G LTE network delivers outstanding wireless experiences for customers who are unwilling to compromise on quality and value. Based in Bellevue, Wash., T-Mobile US provides services through its subsidiaries and operates its flagship brands, T-Mobile and MetroPCS. For more information, please visit http://www.t-mobile.com.

T-Mobile just made a claim and backed it up with clear and transparent data. AT&T on the other hand just says "FASTER IS BETTER" over and over again while flashing 6 point font at the bottom of the screen for a few seconds. My favorite part is they are literally talking to children while doing this.

Great to know. I live in Baltimore but I frequently drive to DC because I have family down there. Plus my girlfriend lives in Bowie. Idc about not having LTE everywhere as long as I get it in the Baltimore-Washington metro area

T-Mo sucks unless you are in a populous. Every time I travel the highways in between large towns and cities, if I leave the highway by a half mile I lose all signals and have nothing, which sucks when looking for a hotel or gas station sometimes. In MO and IL their 4G is not that great and barely comparable to vzw, which sucks too with speeds of 8 Mb down (which is 1 MB). Sprint actually has better coverage than ATT and Tmo here with vzw on top, just for coverage. I have yet to see any carrier speeds above 12 with myself or friends carriers here in the midwest.

I'll never go back to TMo, they would not replace a faulty phone 10 months into a 12 month warranty. Their rep sold me to a month to month plan back in 2009, when it was new, and I had to pay to break my contract so I could get better texting rates for the money. A few months later dissatisfied I left Tmo and they Charged me an ETF even though I paid to break my contract for the month to month plan. I have yet to pay them it. And I always lost signals to half the places I went in MO and IL.

Completely agree, Tmo IS CHEAPER that is only reason I am with them.
Their signal around Chicago zero to one, in some spots yes its all five and work great but AGAIN IN SOME SPOTS ONLY. I was with ATT long time and switched to Tmo only because of the price per month but not happy.

I have been with t-mobile for 10 years and since we are a military family we have lived all over including Missouri and even middle of nowhere. We have never had issues, in fact it has only gotten better through the years. Even when we lived in Alaska where they didn't have t-mobile there at the time my phone still worked great. There has to be a reason I have been with them since 2004!!!

"I think they should expand instead of focusing on beefing up data speeds in big cities."

I, on the other hand, think they do it right. Instead of trying to cover every single land mass, and therefore have misserable speeds.. they build up an area and move to the next. Meanwhile, others can stay on other networks until T-Mobile moves on build up that area.

I LOVE their speed where I live and work, but at my grandmother's house, it's 2G still and 40ish miles away (out in the country, yes) where my mother lives, there's no signal at all.
Meanwhile, AT&T has 4G there... I hate that T-Mo won't roam on those towers in NC.

Make that 4. Verizon LTE is much faster than T Mo in my area also. Also, this "clear and transparent data" is not as clear and transparent as you seem to think but it IS clear that it is flawed. T Mo's numbers come from people who used the specific Ookla app, to perform speedtests during an unspecified time. What about the millions of subscribers of the major carriers who do NOT use that speedtest app, or ANY speedtest app for that matter? Throwing out numbers from users of one specific app during some mystery period, is not an accurate representation and does not tell the whole story.

That speed test app is LITERALLY one of the most popular downloads on the entire play store so what the hell are you talking about? I seriously can't think of a better or more objective metric T-Mobile could have possibly used. But since you're so smart how about you enlighten us on how T-Mobile could have gotten more accurate results?

The problem is that the data is cherry-picked. They are talking ONLY about LTE at PEAK HOURS. Of Verizon, ATT, and T-mo, T-mo has the least widespread LTE network and the lowest number of subscribers. So at peak hours, Verizon and ATT will have way more people on their networks per square mile (which are also wider-spread) and, thus, more network congestion. Average speed across the ENTIRE network would look pretty bad for T-mo since a larger percentage of their customers will be on HSPA+, 3g, or edge.

I'm a happy T-mo customer, so I'm not trying to pick on them. But this graph is not a fair representation of their network.

Do you currently have tmobile and another service to compare it? I understand if you used tmobile a few years back, heck even a year back. But unless you have tried them personally in the last year you really can't say that their bad. But it all depends on the area your in. I myself have both sprint and tmobile and have been testing them side by side for the last 3 months. I also have tried my brother in laws Verizon phone. Tmobile is one of the best in my area so I guess I'm one of the lucky ones

As I have always said it's Plain and simple nothing beats Tmobile period.

I've had em all Verizon is extremely overrated and drastically over saturated with POOR update abilities on handsets and pitiful disabling bloatware not to mention the comical silly childish branding on products.

At@t sucks monkey balls with PISS POOR data plans and dreadful nickel and diming monthly on bill payments those customers NEVER SEE THE PROPER bill every month.

And Sprint is just Sprint mostly bad with a few good things no wonder they are begging for Tmobile's help.

My three lines of service on Tmobile is here to stay period. Nothing else matters.

I am also in the most populated state in the US and have experienced great service with T-Mobile. I was a Verizon customer before, but left after watching their network degrade over the last year. Even VZW's CIO admitted to having major problems with their network. T-Mobile has been fantastic for me. I get 10-25Mbps download speeds, and have great coverage almost everywhere I go, except maybe deep inside large concrete buildings. That problem should be resolved once they light up their newly purchased 700Mhz spectrum.

I live on the outskirts of Cincy, which doesn't have LTE or HSPA+42, and still get a solid 5-6Mbps down. In other cities like Dayton the speeds are insane. I got 27Mbps down on my old phone which did not have LTE. If coverage sucks in your area I'd wait and see how much it keeps improving.

That's one of the reasons I joined Tmo, is the fast fallback network, if an LTE signal isn't available, HSPA+42 is still very fast and sufficient!!! Where as when an LTE signal isn't present on Verizon, well EVDO is absolute garbage!!!

I don't get it. Verizon has more LTE coverage than T-Mobile has HSPA+ and LTE coverage. So, while HSPA+ is better to fall back on than EVDO, Verizon still has LTE where T-Mobile falls back on HSPA+ and even EDGE.

You're more likely to switch to EDGE on T-Mobile before you lose LTE on Verizon.

yeah, I can understand your point there. BUT, where I live, when VZW drops to evdo, Tmobile drops to NOTHING. That is an issue that I could not live with. And it's not like we are talking in the boondocks here. I LIVE IN NJ!

Every time you run a test, your ISP is recorded with it, so I'm sure they can easily obtain that information from Ookla since they are an ISP. That way they could obtain speed results from Verizon, Sprint, AT&T and their own.

He was pretty ruthless with the jokes on Sprint (also Ralphie) but the criticism on Sprint's upgrade and planned upgrades is not all that different than Tmo's own upgrade plans and announcements. But coining "spanky" was pretty funny.

I've already seen a report from a major tech news site (don't remember which one) that showed that T-Mo has the fastest speeds, so I believe this. And every ex-Verizon T-Mobile convert I've seen has said that their HSPA+ speeds are faster than their Verizon LTE speeds.

"They made it a point to show how their network was substantially faster than AT&Ts or Verizon's, and went as far as joking about Sprint's network performance with one-liners any Internet commenter would be proud of"

Making jokes about one of your competitors, while failing to show any proof that your product is better than theirs, just comes off as suspicious. If Sprint's LTE speeds are that bad, why not show the data to further illustrate how much faster T-Mobile's LTE is?

I don`t where you get that! I have Sprint and I get over 23 Mbps download and over 10 Mbps upload in my area.
T-mobile and other can claim anything... It`s all depending on where you live and your area.. T-mobile where I live don`t working inside big building, you`ll need Wi-Fi other wise you`ll have no service.
I live in southeast MI .

I have no direct comparison point, but I can say that nearly everywhere I run a SpeedTest with my T-Mobile connection, I get a faster connection than whatever WiFi network I'm connected to at that moment, be it home or the office. And that's not only on LTE, but HSPA+, too.

I think the reason for the higher average, despite all the people piping up in comments to claim they get much better with a different carrier, is that point about consistency. I suspect all the others can burst higher on occasion, giving you a better number to show off, but T-Mobile more consistently delivers overall.

Either that or they don't know what the hell they are talking about and just want to not feel bad about the fact they aren't using T-Mobile for whatever reason and are therefore probably getting shafted by whoever their current carrier is.

Yeah, just curious where abouts you might live. I have VZW in NJ and the coverage is still tops after all these 15+ years I have had a phone of some sorts. I would love to pay less and jump to tmo or at&t, but friends with their coverage just can't come close. Curious how the coverage would be in other areas of the country. It is just hard for me to believe that in the most densely populated state in the union, that these other carriers have good coverage elsewhere, when they can't blanket this state with reliable coverage to this very day.

Sure hope T-Mo has the necessary backhaul to handle all of these purported internet switchers from Legere's rants and raves.

Too many concurrent data users (see AT&T and the iPhone launch) can bring a network to it's knees. I've always suspected the reason T-Mo was so fast is because they have the least amount of people using it.

i use both AT&T and T-Mob and i can say that here in Dallas T-mob is not the faster network not downtown or the metroplex area and i have been from ft worth , irving, grand prairie, denton, and plano those are frequent locations and now way is T-Mob faster i use a hotspot with them the LTE newest model and it gets about 9mps down avg and don't go into san antonio with it because it just lags can't watch netflix on laptop or in hotel yet my note 3 and iPhone 5s on att get 14-18 down avg and 2-5 up avg so for DFW t-mob is a bust just gets press because of the loud mouth CEO if this were a CEO of any other company folks would be calling for him to be fired with the amount of unprofessionalism that he shows i am sorry i use both and have nothing against them but geesh calm down show it with earnings and real advertisement not appeasing blog sites and pundits with loud rants about the other networks its like the hype before a great fight then you get knocked out t mob can't compete with verizon or att when it comes to coverage or speed yeah in little pockets you get folks saying its faster i am happy, but over all big markets no comp stick with metro pcs integration and then get bought out by sprint the same company you cracked jokes about. sorry rant yet i still give them my money for the hotspot data plan because i bought into all of this hype about them being faster.

Speak for yourself. I live in Denton and travel all over DFW and out to Hill Country near Waco. Only on rare occasion have I not had LTE on my
HTC One. It baffles me when my friends out here in Denton have to connect to WiFi because they're on ATT 3G trying to show me a video on YouTube while I'm on LTE pulling faster speeds than their WiFi connection.

Not to mention, WiFi calling is awesome. In my hospital basement, No carrier get reception, but my phone rocks calling/texting. People often stop and ask me how the hell I get reception in there... Great feature.

One of the reasons why T-Mobile is faster is because....hardly anyone is on it. Eventually in time, when they obtain (or re-obtain) customers, there network become clogged down, the same way Verizon & AT&T's are.

Let's not forget, T-Mobile is #4 in the country for a reason....a good reason. It's just now that they are building their network. I hope these policies and improvement continue despite the fact this old, but fledgling company might have new owners through acquisition.

To Mr V, It must really suck to be stuck on a shitty Network with lousy data speeds and capped data. Not me, I'm getting 20 down on HSPA+ and 35-40 down on LTE during the day, after 5PM my speeds get even faster. Those speeds are inside my house. Thank You T-Mobile. Keep complaining, frustration really sucks. hahahhaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah

You're wrong because they are going to start using this 20x20 LTE spectrum (the rollout starts in Dallas) and with that comes increased bandwidth so even when their network does get more traffic it still won't slow to a crawl like you see on Verizon and AT&T.

Well they must have taken speed tests from my area into consideration. If you go inside a building you lose connection. I have an unlocked s4 and my lte speeds were between 18-22 with the tmo sim 13-16

I can't vouch for tmo, but I can say that I have been severely disappointed with vzw speeds since right after the iPhone 5 was released. My data rates went from around 30/20 to about 5/4 no matter where I am in my state (which is New York and includes nyc). I have not seen a speed over 12mbps down in 2 years on any of the 3 phones I've used in that time.

My bad. I shouldn't have said Metro because that includes 50k + towns . in that case most of the people do live there. I was referring to the largest metropolitan areas (2M +) but only urban parts (suburban are much bigger - even w them it's 50℅ of population) That's where the numbers are mostly from. They don't have the money for larger infrastructure yet and that's why the main focus is this kind of marketing plus all CEO's shticks. As many suggested , I wonder what would their speeds be like once they get all these new customers.
Still, it's good to see someone changing up the game in the industry for better.
Many hate VZW for it's pricing and policies, but that's how most of the companies are once they grow that big and strong with very few exceptions.

I have both Verizon and T-Mobile, both with real unlimited data plans. Verizon no longer puts out LTE in my area. I live in a suburb of Boston 7 miles away. On T-Mobile's HSPA+ Network I'm getting between 15-20mb down and 3 up. On T-Mobile's LTE Network I'm getting between 25-35mb down and around 10-15 up. Those are during the day, they are consistent speeds. At night my speeds jump 5-10 mb faster. My T-Mobile plan is great, unlimited phone, text and data without any caps and no throttling speeds. I pay eighty five bucks a month. Verizon got so bad I have put that account on a suspension without a bill hoping they will improve. That was over 3 months ago, still slow as hell. T-Mobile in my area is far and away the fastest Carrier. My sister and her husband had AT&T and have also left for T-Mobile and are thrilled. My business is based in and around the Boston area and I have never been out of service range or dropped a call. I have never seen EDGE on my T-Mobile service, they have come a very long way. You are silly not to give them a try if you have their service in your area.

I'm surprised Richard hasn't (yet) come around saying how T-Mobile is "plain and simple" the most "pimp slapping", awesomest, redonkulous, "kool" carrier ever "period".
Meanwhile, you still can't get good data speeds 20+ miles outside of most city limits, as their own coverage maps mostly attest.

Tmobile is definitely a winner, I've experienced it in all of Sacramento, CA, Southern CA, San Francisco Bay area. Very consistent indoor and outdoor, and truly UNLIMITED data, unlike Verizon and att where you have to play tricks to keep unlimited.

No offense to you or anyone here, but I'm no fanboy. I've wanted to try out an iOS product, for quite some time. Trust me, I'm not the only one, here (Mobile Nations), that uses more than one operating system.

So, yeah, I use it, like it, and love it. That doesn't somehow eschew my view of Android, or my opinions, for that matter.

I like T-Mobile. I'm a Vegas native and know that AT&T's LTE is superior to T-mo. I wouldn't go to AT&T because of how expensive it is. Also it is slower than T-Mo near Chinatown and Spring Valley since most Asians are probably with AT&T

Think about it this way. If you have t-mobile and you go to an area with bad service and let's face most areas are bad for them are you going to use your speed test app? No if your phone says edge then you won't use it. So these numbers are skewed so bad it's not even funny.

T-Mobile should concentrate on upgrading their network instead of trying to belittle the two largest carriers in the US, so they are faster in a few markets, but where it counts the most and that is coverage, they fail big time. I need my phone to work anywhere I go, not just where I live. Verizon has never let me down, and I get LTE anywhere I go, is it blazing fast, not all the time , but it is fast enough, and it is reliable, which means my phone WORKS, when I need it to.

Q
Do you have both LTE and hspa coverage in the same area ? If you were to opt in settings maybe. I'm thinking of getting the Moto G and mess with it but really wanna give Tmo a 48 state test drive (after some time now) :) just curious if 3g would be equally relevant for their coverage.

I've run a Speedtest on my Nexus 5 with TMo in Dallas and received 100 down. It only happened once...I've never been able to get it that high again...but that was awesome to see it. I usually hover around 30-40

I'll take a solid 14Mbps average that happens to be pretty much anywhere and everywhere I go on a regular basis *and when I've travelled too* than 17Mbps that I can't get at my house, at work, on road trips, or small out of town trips.

I have a family plan on T-Mobile (5 smartphones and an iPad Mini Retina) and a blue HTC One on Verizon ($60 unlimited talk and text w/ 2gb of data plan).

I only run speed tests on T-Mobile when I notice really good speeds or really slow speeds (slowness being very rare) since I have unlimited data. I rarely try a speed test on Verizon because it uses way too much data on my limited plan. If my use of the speed test app is anywhere near typical how should that impact the analysis of this data?

I'll have had Tmo for a full year at the end of next month, and I honestly don't understand the complaining and grumbling about their network. There is one place I go regularly where I don't get a signal, and that's my work. I get LTE and a full 5 bars of voice service outside, I get full voice and HSPA+ in the entrance, and I get NOTHING inside the building. This is the well-known building penetration issue. This is the only issue I've ever had, and that includes travelling around in my area outside the major metro areas. It's all covered. All they need is some spectrum to cover building penetration and they'll be all set!! Honestly, though, I don't need my phone for anything related to my work, and the fact that I only get a signal when I walk near an entrance/exit is just fine by me. I get a signal about once an hour or so, so I never wait very long for a missed call notification, etc. I also work 3rd shift, so that decreases the likelihood of needing my phone yet again.

I get that it's a problem for some people.....I just can't really understand why. Is it really that big of a deal to get off your fat ass and walk outside for a minute to make a phone call? Tmo's network may not be the absolute best coverage at the moment, but give them a chance. Look at how they were doing a year and a half ago, compared to how they are today. Do you really think they are just going to say "well, that's good enough! Let's stop improving the network now, and see how that does for a few years"? lol

" Is it really that big of a deal to get off your fat ass and walk outside for a minute to make a phone call?"

This morning, it was 22 degrees *below zero* outside. So yeah, it would be a big deal to go outside to make a call. But hey, if it's good enough for you and the family on Green Acres, then it must be good enough for everybody else, right?

They have GOT to do something about rural coverage if they intend to keep growing. I live in a city with decent enough coverage, but I go enough places that I can't use T-Mobile reliably. The sheer number of areas - towns of 10-15k people, even - that are stuck on GPRS-only is insane. Not even EDGE - just plain old GPRS. No Google Maps is the killer for me. I might only spend 20% of my time in GPRS areas that are 4-5 miles away from T-Mobile LTE but it's enough that I left them.

I have issues indoors at home as well - in the middle of a city of 33k people. Wifi calling never worked well for my on an HTC One S and was not an option for my wife's iPhone 4S. We left in August and I really miss the extra $70 or so bucks a month I spend to have Verizon, but unfortunately for me that's all I've got.

The bad news for me is that I'm not in a top 100 market, and the top 200 market I live in is way down the list. I hope it gets better because I'll let T-Mobile pay my ETF any time. I've got an old T-Mobile phone still kicking around with my old T-Mobile SIM in it and it still shows signal strength so I can periodically check up on them. It's only a 3G phone but that's enough to know whether or not I'll be able to use it to make a call from my living room.

Plain and simple T-Mobile is the fastest network in places that actually matter for business. They can afford to lose 1 or 2 hillbillies in exchange for hundreds of thousands of civilized people. That's smart business period.

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